Tehran - Lawmakers on Tuesday strongly criticized the head
of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Ali
Larijani and accused him of factionalism and allowing
censorship of the broadcast media.

Five Majlis deputies in a letter to Larijani castigated his
management "of this national media which belongs to all the
respected people of Iran." They went on to say that IRIB
authorities had "not taken the proper lessons from the May
23 event and insist on factionalizing the IRIB".

On May 23 Iranians voted overwhelmingly for Seyyed Mohammad
Khatami in the presidential elections which Majlis speaker,
Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri was poised to win. The Khatami
victory took many by surprise including senior state
officials who had backed the speaker's candidacy.

Visibly angered by IRIB's onesided and often biased
approach, the MPs said "time and again over the past two
years, and on various pretexts interviews with and
publicity programs for peo-ple close to your line of
thought have been broadcast. In the program 'Contact with
MPs' interviews are conducted mainly with those who are
your allies, especially figures who were in conflict with
the people during the May general elections."

During the radio and TV broadcast of the ongoing budget
debates, obstinacy and prejudice were taken to new heights
"when speeches by lawmakers who favored the 1998-99 draft
budget and who do not subscribe to your line of thinking
were censured and not broadcast," the parliamentarians
protested.

The signatories warned Larijani to revise his present
policies and "unfair practices which will not remain
conceded from our people's views"."